easyJet overtakes Ryanair as Berlin’s #1 carrier; 155 destinations in peak summer

In 2025, Berlin Brandenburg (IATA code BER) welcomed 26.1 million passengers, which cemented its position as Germany’s third-busiest airport. Throughput was at the highest level since BER opened in 2020. However, if the now-closed TXL and SXF are combined, traffic is down by nearly 27% compared to 2019, which is a drop of 9.5 million passengers. Many of Germany’s airports have yet to recover from the pandemic.

BER has benefited from the arrival of various new or returning carriers in 2026. According to Cirium schedule data, they include Air Canada, Avantiair, MEA and Nile Air. Like any other airport, airline churn has occurred. Compared to 2025, Air Anka, Norse Atlantic, PLAY and Scoot no longer fly to BER. PLAY has ceased to exist.

easyJet overtakes Ryanair to become the leading airline

In Q3 2026 (July-September), Cirium shows that BER has 4.3 million one-way seats, which has increased by nearly 2% year-over-year. The pan-European (U)LCCs easyJet and Ryanair remain the two largest operators, with about 30% of the airport’s capacity.

Ryanair’s modest cut of 4% year-over-year does not tell the full story. The carrier is closing its BER base at the end of S26, with the loss of seven aircraft stationed there. easyJet is now the leading operator. It has 50 routes in Q3, with the top five markets being London LGW, Palma de Mallorca, Nice, Milan LIN and Paris CDG.

Compared to the same three months last year, easyJet now serves Agadir, London SEN, Milan MXP, Seville and Sharm El Sheikh. However, it has ceased flying to Amsterdam, Cairo SPX, Dubrovnik, Liverpool, Murcia, Paris ORY Salerno, and Zadar.

The substantial growth of Wizz Air is notable. The ULCC’s capacity has jumped by 109% year-over-year, which means that it is now among BER’s top 10 airlines. The carrier has 13 routes, all within Central and Eastern Europe. New routes include Bratislava, Bucharest OTP, Cluj Napoca, Sofia, Timisoara and Tuzla.

Flights to 150+ destinations in the peak summer

Cirium indicates that BER has non-stop flights to 155 destinations in Q3. Compared to July-September 2025, only Europe has grown (+119,000 one-way seats). All the other areas – Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North America – have shrunk. Europe now has 93% of BER’s seats.

The 155 airports are in 51 countries. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovakia are now served, while the UAE currently isn’t (UAE flights resume in October). The domestic German market still has the most seats (525,000), including because of Lufthansa’s hub services to Frankfurt and Munich. Condor now also serves Frankfurt to feed its onward network. Eurowings flies to Cologne, Düsseldorf and Stuttgart, while Avantiair operates to Friedrichshafen and Sylt.

With 238,000 one-way seats, Frankfurt remains the leading market from BER. 94-weekly departures are available in August, provided by Lufthansa (73) and Condor (21). Condor only entered the market in March 2025. In 2025, over 600,000 passengers connected to another flight at Germany’s busiest airport.